It’s no secret by now that Verizon plans to launch a device called the Galaxy Stellar in the near future — the short-lived EvLeaks Twitter account posted a picture of it before going silent — but a recently leaked image has shed a bit more light on the new mid-range device.
Expect the Stellar to hit shelves with a $99 price tag in tow, though exactly when that will happen is still up in the air.
There aren’t any specs to dissect just yet, but the image offers up more than its share of peculiarities to mull. Aside from keeping the oddly pointy chin seen in its predecessor the Droid Charge, the forthcoming Stellar seems to have yet another trick up its sleeve: starter mode.
The image offers few hints as to how starter mode actually works beyond claiming it’s easy to use, but it’s probably safe to expect a smaller number of reconfigured homescreens complete with handy shortcuts to commonly used features.
Interestingly, another device from a completely different manufacturer — the poorly-named Pantech Marauder — also has a “starter mode,” which raises an logical question. I thought the inclusion of a pared-down interface was thoughtful touch on Pantech’s part, but now that Samsung is getting into the game I have to wonder if Verizon is pushing the starter mode decision from their end. If so, that could mean that future Verizon smartphones may have similarly split personalities; representatives from the carrier haven’t yet gotten back to me on that.
Rounding out the package are some pre-loaded Amazon apps, that I think Droid-Life is reading a bit too much into. Verizon has historically loaded up their devices with the Kindle and Amazon MP3 store apps (which handily cover the “shop” and “stay entertained” angles played up in the copy), though I’m holding out hope the folks at Verizon buck the trend and pre-load the Amazon Appstore just to see what happens.
